See to it that the Long Beach Century Club’s annual sports banquet on Feb. 9 at The Grand is a sellout as a show of support of not only the local high school athletes who will be honored but also for the organization’s Athlete of the Year, Jessica Hardy.

Indeed, if anyone ever deserved such a reward, it was the 2005 Wilson High graduate who had a stirring 2009 swimming season in which she wound up setting four world records in her breaststroke specialty and was crowned as the FINA/Arena Swimming World Cup champion.

This followed a sad 2008 season in which Hardy was deprived of participating in the Beijing Olympics after testing positive for a banned substance called clenbuterol that has resulted in her bringing a lawsuit against Advocare for an alleged contaminated nutritional supplement.

For her extraordinary work in the five-week World Cup competition in which she earned more points than any other female participant, she made more than $150,000 and the respect of her peers on a tour in which she was one of its most popular performers.

Censure those questioning Pete Carroll’s loyalty for bolting USC for the Seattle Seahawks for a reported five-year, $35 million contract. Ever notice those who question loyalty in such circumstances are the types who never receive lucrative job offers.

Force those talking heads at ESPN to recuse themselves from rendering opinions on the ousted Texas Tech coach Mike Leach since one of the network’s announcers, Craig James, happens to be the father of Leach’s accuser, Adam James.

Do away with that new bike lane on second Street in Naples that is nothing more than an irritant that only heightens traffic congestion for many to benefit a few.

Arrange for those gamblers who need to get out of a deep financial hole to go with the Arizona Cardinals today against the Green Bay Packers, and lay the measly one point. Yes, Kurt Warner makes that much of a difference for a Cardinal team that lost one-sidedly to the Packers last week without Warner in the lineup in the same Glendale stadium where the rematch will be staged.

Force Frank McCourt to explain how the Dodgers have strengthened themselves during this offseason.

Ditto Arte Moreno in regard to the Angels.

Warn anyone who views “Avatar” to understand that James Cameron’s dazzling 3-D technology breakthrough in the film is exceeded by a mind-numbingly hokey plot he wrote that has been done numerous previous times in varying guises that also were similarly ghastly.

Arrange Tiger Woods to have a sitdown with Warren Beatty, also an illustrious skirt-chaser in his younger days but with a discernment notably lacking in Woods.

Teach Ron Artest how to carry a package down a flight of stairs without falling and suffering a concussion.

Figure out the odds of Lynn Swann and myself being at a Starbucks at the same time on the morning of Dec. 31 in, of all places, the Sun Valley hamlet of Ketchum, Idaho.

Give you Urban Meyer and Nick Saban, and instead take Chris Petersen, the magical Boise State coach who I think is the top one in collegiate football.

Force Donald T. Sterling to sell the Clippers and buy a newspaper, since there isn’t a multi-millionaire egomaniac in America who buys more self-serving, self-promotional, self-aggrandizing space in one than Mr. Sterling.

Force Mitch Kupchak to give his honest opinion of whether he regrets his offseason decision to pursue Ron Artest and dump Trevor Ariza.

Fire the NFL official who made that phantom holding call last Sunday that deprived the Tennessee Titans’ Chris Johnson of a 62-yard scoring run. Replays showed, clearly, there was no hold on the play, yet one of those meddlesome zebras couldn’t contain his compulsion to throw a hankie, an affliction that permeates throughout his profession.

Force Dan Monson to explain to me how the nonconference gauntlet his Long Beach State team endured against Texas, Duke and Kentucky prepared his troops to miss nine consecutive free throws during that recent overtime loss at UC Riverside.

Force those who readily criticize other people’s faults to correct their own.

Arrange a BCS rematch between Alabama and Texas with a healthy Colt McCoy able to play in it.

Implode the BCS, and institute a playoff system that would decide a legit national football champion, instead of the ersatz ones that are crowned every January.

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